China gives bleak assessment of its battered environment

Ben Blanchard in Reuters: More than half of China's cities are affected by acid rain and one-sixth of major rivers are so polluted the water is unfit even for farmland, a senior official said on Friday in a bleak assessment of the environmental price of the country's economic boom. The environmental degradation which has accompanied China's breakneck growth has emerged as one of the most potent fault lines in Chinese society, driving protests against Beijing's perceived inability to effectively tackle the problem.

China has repeatedly promised to clean up its stressed environment. But it often fails to match that with the resources and political will to enforce Beijing's mandates, as local officials put growth, revenue and jobs ahead of environmental protection. "The overall environmental situation is still very grave and is facing many difficulties and challenges," deputy environment minister Li Ganjie told a news conference.

The waters off the booming cities of Shanghai, Tianjin and Guangzhou were rated as severely polluted, with only stretches around the resort island of Hainan and parts of the northern coast given a totally clean bill of health, Li said.

Pollution monitors found that 16.4 percent of China's major rivers were classified as worse than grade five, he added, meaning that they do not even meet the standard needed for agricultural irrigation. Just 3.6 percent of the 471 cities monitored got top ratings for air cleanliness, and there was a continued loss of biodiversity around the country, Li added.

Heavy metal pollution was a particular worry, he said, not only on the health front but also for stability in society. "These heavy metal pollution incidents not only seriously threaten people's health, they affect social stability, and it ought to be said this is a rather severe issue," Li said…

Shanghai at sunset, as seen from the observation deck of the Jin Mao tower. The sun is obscured, not by the horizon, but rather the smog line. Shot by Suicup, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license